Unskilled just means pretty much anyone can do it. McDonald’s, Walmart cashier, warehouse worker, etc.
You don’t need any sort of certification or training. Yes, you need to be “skilled” in that you may need to be physically fit or friendly in social settings, there are definitely plenty of people who are not suited to warehouse work or being a cashier, but if you are suited you can generally start right away with minimal training.
It’s still disingenuous to call it unskilled, though. Even those jobs require rudimentary skills that not everyone has. If we diminish the value of these skills, we’re just devaluing people even further.
Why try to draw an arbitrary division like that in the first place? There are a lot of “skilled labor” positions that don’t actually require any certification or training. And there are a lot of “unskilled labor” positions that do require training. It kind of just seems like a way to dismiss certain types of labor as “lower” than others, at least that’s how the term is used in a majority of contexts.
A genius theoretical physicist from China who doesn’t speak english can’t be a mcdonalds or walmart cashier. A distinguished human rights lawyer who got old and developed arthritis can’t be a warehouse worker. Those jobs are skilled.
Having to cater to your customers’ every need and socializing, keeping eye contact or regulating emotions are necessary skills for a cashier job, yet a mentally disabled person may not have those skills due to their disability. Do you guys just casually forget autism or personality disorders exist?
Unskilled just means pretty much anyone can do it. McDonald’s, Walmart cashier, warehouse worker, etc.
You don’t need any sort of certification or training. Yes, you need to be “skilled” in that you may need to be physically fit or friendly in social settings, there are definitely plenty of people who are not suited to warehouse work or being a cashier, but if you are suited you can generally start right away with minimal training.
It’s still disingenuous to call it unskilled, though. Even those jobs require rudimentary skills that not everyone has. If we diminish the value of these skills, we’re just devaluing people even further.
What do you want to call it? Just curious, we love to criticize but not offer suggestions
Unspecialized is a bit less dismissive of a term
Generalized would be a good contrast to specialized that generally lacks biases.
Why try to draw an arbitrary division like that in the first place? There are a lot of “skilled labor” positions that don’t actually require any certification or training. And there are a lot of “unskilled labor” positions that do require training. It kind of just seems like a way to dismiss certain types of labor as “lower” than others, at least that’s how the term is used in a majority of contexts.
I got into an argument with someone about this. I ended up proposing generalized versus specialized.
A genius theoretical physicist from China who doesn’t speak english can’t be a mcdonalds or walmart cashier. A distinguished human rights lawyer who got old and developed arthritis can’t be a warehouse worker. Those jobs are skilled.
Having to cater to your customers’ every need and socializing, keeping eye contact or regulating emotions are necessary skills for a cashier job, yet a mentally disabled person may not have those skills due to their disability. Do you guys just casually forget autism or personality disorders exist?